Heartbroken
by paradisecitygirl
Summary: Buck Merrill leaves his house planning on asking Evie Sanders to marry him -- and then catches her making out with Steve Randle. Now he wants a fight, and everyone is forced to choose sides, which could tear the greasers apart forever.
1. Chapter 1

If everything went as planned, tonight would be the night. The night that Buck Merril would remember for the rest of his life. The night he asked Evie Sanders to marry him.

He'd bought her the nicest ring he could afford, which wasn't much – but it would have to do. Evie never much cared about having expensive things anyway. That was one of the things Buck liked about her – she was easy to please, and didn't need material things to make her happy. They were planning on going to see the Nightly Double, and hopefully by the time the movie ended and they drove out to the lake, he would have worked up the courage to ask her to be his wife.

He tucked the ring into the front pocket of his worn-out blue jeans and styled his hair in the mirror, hoping he looked good enough to impress Evie. Even though they'd been dating on-and-off (mostly on) for the past three years, he always felt the need to make sure he looked his best before he left to go pick her up.

He slowly exited from the top floor of his bar, spending a couple minutes making sure everything looked right before he left. On his very first date with Evie, he'd neglected to lock the back door, and a drunken Curly Shepard had broken in and stolen a bunch of beer. Even though he'd definitely gotten Curly back for that one, he didn't want to chance anything happening again.

He left the front door and got into the car, ten minutes earlier than planned. Evie usually was running late, but that was fine – he could just drive around until 6:30 came. As he circled the block where Sylvia Kane (his best friend Dallas Winston's girlfriend) lived, he noticed Steve Randle, Sylvia's next door neighbor, making out with a curly-headed brunette on his front porch. As he craned his neck to see who it was, his heart sunk – it was Evie.

He slammed on the horn as hard as he could, his blood boiling. This was the girl he was going to ask to marry him! He was in love with her! And here she was, making out with Steve Randle of all people. That kid was due for a good beating. Buck pulled the car to a stop along the street and stepped out. Evie and Steve were frozen in place, and a scared expression had settled on both of their faces. Buck and Steve had previously been friends, but that was all gone now. Buck advanced toward them with a menacing look on his face and his blade out.

"Buck, please! It's not what it looks like!" Evie whined, tears running down her face. "Please, baby, don't hurt Steve! Nothing happened!"

Buck ignored her desperate pleas and continued walking toward Steve. Steve stumbled backward in terror and tripped over a rock, falling flat onto the porch. Buck climbed on top of him without hesitation and was poised to slice his head clean off when he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as Evie belted him with a flowerpot. As he lost consciousness, the thought swirled through his head that all hopes of getting Evie back were gone now…

Buck came to in the vacant lot, his head throbbing like it had never throbbed before. It took him a moment to recall what had happened, but as soon as it all came rushing back, he wished he hadn't remembered. Feelings of anger and sadness flooded through him as he slowly and painfully dragged himself up off the ground. He reached into his pocket, hoping desperately that Evie and Steve hadn't found the ring. If they had, he would never live it down. Relief flooded through him when he felt the outline of the ring, still there and undisturbed. Finally, something had gone right. He aimlessly got up and wandered in the direction of the Nightly Double, hoping that Dally would be there and that he could give him a ride back to his bar. He just wanted to go to bed and forget about the events of the day.

He stepped up to the fence and surveyed the place, hoping that ANYONE he knew would be there. Dally wasn't around, but he spotted Tim Shepard sitting in the back row cramming popcorn into his mouth. He crawled through the hole under the fence – all he had on him was the ring, after all – and made his way back to where Tim was sitting. "Hey, Shepard, could you give me a ride back to my place? I'll give ya some free beer," Buck whispered loudly, disturbing Kathy and Two-Bit's make out session in front of them. Taking in Buck's distraught appearance (it took a lot to make Buck distraught), Tim quickly agreed and the two walked out to the parking lot, climbing into Tim's nice new Chevy.

Buck handed Tim the promised beers and shooed him out of the bar, just wanting some time to himself. He knew that Dallas was likely here with Sylvia in one of the bedrooms since he wasn't at the movies, and he crept down the hall as quietly as a mouse to avoid running into him.

As soon as he flopped down on his sad excuse for a bed, Buck felt tears running down his cheeks. It'd been years since he cried – probably since he was just a baby! "This is a stupid thing to cry over, Buck. Come on! You're being a baby!" he pleaded with himself, but the tears didn't stop falling. He figured he might as well just give in to the urge to cry, and let the tears fall. Hiccupping sobs racked his body, and he cried himself into a disturbed sleep.

_Thanks for reading :]_

_-paradisecitygirl_


	2. Chapter 2

Dallas Winston lay awake in his room alone; Sylvia had declined his invitation to come over, saying she had a cold. Dally didn't mind anyway. He wanted a night to himself every now and then, and tonight seemed like one of those nights. Just as he was about to go off to sleep, he heard soft footsteps in the hallway. "Buck," he thought, now slightly awake. He heard Buck's body hit the bed, and then the sound of crying, softly at first but then louder, coming from the room next door. "It must be that skank Evie. He's awful sweet on her…" Dally thought, pulling the thin white pillow over his head. He couldn't stand the sound of people crying.

Buck woke up late, at about 11:45. He heard Dally making breakfast down in the kitchen – he must've just woken up too. He rolled out of bed and surveyed himself in the mirror. His scruffy beard needed trimmed, and his face was a mess – all red and puffy, and his eyes were bloodshot. He thought to himself that he could try to pass off as hung over, but Dally would know that wasn't true. He hurried down the hall and jumped into the shower, hoping that a nice, hot shower would solve all the world's problems. He had a busy day ahead – which mainly consisted of finding that Randle kid and giving him what he deserved.

He exited the shower, wrapped a towel around himself, and trimmed up his beard to the right length. He went back to his room and threw on a flannel shirt and jeans, surveying himself in the mirror while doing so. He looked considerably better – good enough so that Dally wouldn't notice anything was wrong. He ran down the stairs, and almost crashed right into Dally, who looked sort of… uncomfortable. Buck hoped to God that Dally hadn't heard him crying. That would be a total and complete disaster.

The front door swung open with a bang, and in stepped Steve Randle with a big gust of wind. Buck's eyes narrowed instantly, and Dally immediately caught on to the tension in the room. He sat down on the bottom step with his glass of chocolate milk and quietly watched the scene unfold in front of him.

"Buck, about what happened yesterday…" Steve started pitifully. "GET OUTTA HERE!" Buck shouted, in no mood to hear kindergarten excuses out of the Randle kid. Steve tried to start talking again, fear entering his voice, but Buck just kept on screaming and cussing loudly, pulling out his blade and advancing toward Steve. His eyes widened and he ran out of the bar. Steve usually wasn't one to back down from a fight easily, but Buck scared him like only Darry Curtis and Dallas Winston had scared him before. He had no desire to fight Buck – he knew it would be a losing battle. He KNEW he shouldn't have kissed Evie, knew he shouldn't have talked her into cheating on Buck with him – but he had, and now he had a huge problem on his hands. He didn't stop running until he reached the tracks.

"What was that about?" Dally asked, regarding Buck with interest. "Nothin'," Buck responded, in no mood to discuss his problems with Dally. He was his best friend, not his psychologist. "He sleep with your girl?" Dally tried again, noting the defeated look that came over Buck as he asked. He took that as a yes. "Gonna be a fight?" Buck just shrugged and tried to go upstairs. As he crashed into the stair rail, a ring bounced out of his pocket and down the stairs. A look of understanding came over Dally's face. Buck, bright red at this point, pocketed the ring and ran up the stairs at full speed. Now he knew that Dallas knew, and that in itself was enough to make him want to stay in his room forever.

As Dallas idly thought back on what had just happened, something came to mind. If there was a fight, whose side would he be on? Sure, Buck was his best friend, but Steve was one of the gang, and everyone knew the Curtis gang took up for their own. The room suddenly felt pressured, and Dally quickly threw on some shoes and went outside, climbing into his car and driving into town. He needed to hear first-hand what had happened, and his best bet was Steve. He found Steve laying on the couch at the Curtis house, a blank look on his face and two empty beer bottles sitting next to him. Sensing he wasn't going to learn anything from Steve, he went downtown in hopes of finding Evie…

_Sorry for the length of the chapters. I'll try and shorten them up a bit :]_

_Hope you liked it._

_-paradisecitygirl_


	3. Chapter 3

**Just to let you know, I do not in any way, shape or form own The Outsiders or any of the characters in it. (:**

Unfortunately for Dally, Evie wasn't downtown. Instead, she was at the bar, attempting to break a window and get in. She was determined to try and make things right with Buck, but he saw her at the door and wouldn't let her in. She wondered exactly why she had made out with Steve Randle. He was less attractive than Buck (although she seemed to be the only one who thought so), and she was head-over-heels in love with Buck, not him.

The first time it had happened, she and Buck were on one of their 'breaks', which occurred about two or three times a year and usually only lasted a couple days. Everyone knew they still had claim to each other – but Steve hadn't taken no for an answer. In her depressed state, Evie was convinced to kiss him, just once, and she had liked it. Steve was a good kisser, great in fact. She didn't like to think about it, but he was a better kisser than Buck. It wasn't even regular that she made out with him – just whenever the urge came. It just so happened that the game was over now – she'd been caught. She aimed to get Buck back, but she knew she had a huge task ahead of her.

She was just thinking of going into town to find Dally and convince him to let her in when his car came roaring up the gravel road next to the bar. She frantically jumped off the porch and met him at his car before he even had a chance to get out. "Can I help ya?" he asked, an unreadable expression on his face. "Can you let me in? PLEASE, Dally, please!" she said, tears clouding her pretty green eyes. Dally couldn't help but take notice of the desperation in her voice, so he reluctantly agreed to let her in. Buck would be steamed, but he could deal with that later.

Buck heard the clang of the front door, and entered the front room, expecting to see just Dally there – but instead he saw Evie. _That's my future wife_, he thought, then banished the thought from his head. Evie was NOT his future wife. She was a cheating whore. He tried to convince himself of that as she approached him, tears still sitting in her eyes. "Buck, can we **please** discuss this?" she begged. "I don't see what's to discuss," Buck replied, trying to sound as dismissive as he could. Inside, his heart was melting – he was so in love with Evie before, and he still was. But he couldn't let himself get hurt again. And he still hadn't beat up Randle.

Evie started crying now, and Buck felt himself slowly giving in. "I didn't mean to… it started when we were on break… I needed someone… he was there… Honest, this is the first time it's happened when we're not on break… and it won't again, even when we _are _on break…" she spluttered, trying to talk through her tears. Buck didn't look at her. _Couldn't_ look at her. He knew he would give in. "Goodbye, Evie," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He still wasn't looking at her. Evie sensed defeat and sadly left, crying all the way out the door.

Dally was bored. There was usually nothing to do during the week at Buck's place, not even over the summer. Sometimes Sylvia would come over, but she was still sick, or so she said. Dally wasn't convinced she wasn't cheating on him too. "At least I'm not like Buck," he thought to himself, thanking God for that. He could handle cheating – he did it too, so it didn't bother him any. Buck had cheated on past girlfriends, but never on Evie. He would never even think of it. Dally could never understand how Buck could be in love with anyone, even a girl as pretty as Evie. Besides, Evie should have been a junior in high school (if she hadn't dropped out) and Buck was 23. It was a little creepy, come to think of it.

He decided he would head over to the Curtis house and discuss the issue with Sodapop, who usually seemed to be in the know with everything involving his best buddy Steve. When he arrived, Sodapop was whipping up a chocolate cake in the kitchen while Johnny lounged on the couch watching TV. He said a quick hello to Johnny, and then entered the kitchen to ask Soda questions. "You know about the issue with Buck and Steve?" Dally asked, getting right to the point.

Soda sighed, looking up at Dally with a defeated expression on his face. "Yeah, so I've heard. Anyway, Buck came over about twenty minutes ago and said that he and the Shepard gang were gonna go after Steve tonight. 'Course, we're all gonna be there, but I like Buck too, and I ain't lookin' forward to losin' the privilege of goin' to his bar," he explained. "Then don't go," Dally said, like it was just that easy. "Steve's my best friend. You're crazy if you think I'm gonna be leavin' him high and dry," Soda said, sending Dally a questioning look. "No one should go then. I'll get Buck to call off the fight, and Steve can just come over here and mind his own business," Dally responded.

Soda was just beginning to tell him that that might just work when Steve ran in the front door, blood gushing out of his leg all over the floor. "Buck…shot…me," he stuttered, before collapsing on the floor with a loud bang.

_That was … fun._

_Anyway, reviews are nice! Thanks for reading!_

_-paradisecitygirl_


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